Diplomatic actions

This article may contain outdated information that is inaccurate for the current version of the game. It was last updated for
Charlemagne.

The diplomacy screen

Diplomatic actions are accessed by right-clicking a character portrait.

Many interactions show approximate AI reasoning in tooltips:

Each reason is shown with a number of - of +

++ indicates a range from +1.5 to +2.4

-----sometimes indicates a "blocking" reason that cannot be overcome with enough +'s

Most interactions require the target to be within diplomatic range. Your nearest controlled provinces must be within a distance of 700 though characters of the same religion or culture receive a large range with each other. Notable exceptions to the range requirement are the "straighten up" interaction for decadent relatives, special requests made of religious heads, and arranging a marriage when there is any existing betrothal (though AI rulers always break betrothals that go out of diplomatic range).

Recipient must be in your realm (OR: at peace and granting to a holy order captain or Pope)

Cannot grant kingdoms to ruler of different government type, unless you are ruling a merchant republic

Cannot grant counties to ruler of different government types, if it would put you over one of the following limits:

Feudal realms are limited to 10% of counties under republic control and 10% of counties under theocratic control

Merchant republics are limited to 10% of counties under theocratic control

Cannot give theocracies more than one duchy or kingdom

Cannot grant titles to minor patricians unless you are their direct liege

Cannot give your primary heir more than a single county title, if using gavelkind succession.

Cannot give your primary heir a theocratic title (as this will disinherit him). No heir can be given a theocratic title under gavelkind. Note that Muslim holders of mosques are considered feudal, so these restriction doesn't apply to them.

Notes:

The recipient does not need to be a direct vassal. This means that if the recipient becomes of the same rank as his current liege, he will no longer be vassal to that liege.

Granting a title of the same rank as your primary title will make the recipient independent (of you; they will share your liege if you're a vassal).

Granting a title automatically transfers lower de jure vassals. This gives an opinion bonus (+10 vassal transfer) for each transferred vassal of count+ tier.

The recipient will get a positive opinion modifier toward you for 10 years. The size of the bonus depends on the title granted:

Barony: +20

County: +40

Duchy: +60

Kingdom: +80

Empire: +100

These bonuses stack.

Granting a county to a local mayor (or priest) will raise their existing city (or temple) to the status of county capital.

Granting a county or barony to a courtier will give them the best government type for the given holding type.

Creating a theocracy of your religion (or granting land to a theocracy of your religion) gives piety.

A title that has been granted cannot be revoked within the next 12 months.

Granting a viceroyal kingdom to a count or duke may cause their succession law to change to primogeniture!

The opinion bonus is half that of granting a title

Feudal vassals (except those with viceroyalties as primaries) will be unhappy: -1 per granted viceroyal duchy, -2 per granted viceroyal kingdom

This makes it disadvantageous to have a large empire that's half feudal and half viceroyal

This opinion penalty carries over to new feudal vassals and new emperors.

Notes about viceroys:

Viceroyal titles revert to liege upon the viceroy's death

Vassals of viceroys cannot use "claim on liege" factions to replace the viceroy

However, vassals of viceroys can use oust ruler factions (AI: only for hated tyrants) or directly declare claim wars (AI: never).

If a viceroyal title reverts to top liege, it ceases to be a viceroyalty

If a viceroy becomes independent, the title becomes hereditary

If you grant independence to a viceroy, you gain a strong but non-inheritable claim on the title (but also a 10-year truce)

If you have feudal vassals with non-de-jure territory, granting them the relevant viceroyalty causes that non-de-jure territory to revert, as if they controlled it only because you granted them the viceroyalty. Thus, you can steal vassals and even demesne counties from overextended feudal vassals.

If you have Imperial Administration, you may revoke duchy-tier viceroy titles without upsetting other vassals

Dukes may only be transferred to their de jure liege king (except titular dukes)

For example, suppose you're the King of Ireland and the Duke of Munster is your vassal. When you vassalise the Earl of Desmond, he's your direct vassal, but his county is de jure part of Munster. This situation gives the Duke of Munster a -25 "Wants Control of the County of Desmond" opinion penalty towards you. Transferring Desmond's vassalage to Munster (making him Munster's vassal instead of yours) removes these penalties but also gives an opinion bonus, for an opinion swing of 35 per vassal transferred. This is the main reason why it's a good idea to keep de jure territories together.

If a count is leading a faction, transferring his vassalage to a duke will completely remove the faction, requiring someone else to found it again and all the previous members to rejoin. This is a good way to take care of a faction.

With The Reaper's Due, players may demand that a vassal end a war, either forcing the attacker to white peace or the defender to surrender.

If you hold a favor on the vassal, they cannot refuse. If the vassal holds a favor on you, you cannot make the demand.

Otherwise, there is a five-year cooldown and the vassal has several choices. They may offer to comply for a favor (if Conclave is enabled), offer to comply for money, or refuse. With Late Feudal or Imperial Administration, refusal is considered treachery, providing just cause for imprisonment or revocation.

A Muslim ruler may request a ruling against a vassal whose dynasty is seen as decadent. If the ruler's Court Imam agrees to issue a fatwa, it allows the ruler to imprison the vassal or revoke one title.

Ruler:

Less than 40% decadence

At least 100 piety

Targeted vassal:

At least 40% decadence

Less than 100 piety

Not the same dynasty

At least 16 years old

Landed

Has not had a fatwa suggested against them within the last 1140 days (3.1 years)

If the Court Imam is AI-controlled, he decides based on opinion of the liege and target (cutoffs at -50, 0, +50).

A courtier who likes you is more likely to accept your invitation. Linear.

Opinion of <Current Liege>

½ ⋅ dislike2 ⋅ like

A factor of ½ is applied to negative opinions, while a factor of 2 is applied to positive opinions. The latter means that a courtier with even a moderately positive opinion of their liege can be very difficult to invite.

<Current liege> is unable to press my claims

+50

+++

Men. Current liege controls some(?) of the character's claimed titles. Increased for multiple claims(?). The courtier hopes you will press the claim in his name against his previous liege.

<Requester> is unable to press my claims

-----

Men. You control all(?) of the character's claimed titles, and thus cannot press his claims (unless you first grant independence to a vassal).

<Requester> has the power to press my claims

+++

Counter-intuitively, this applies when you are unable to press the claim. Possibly a bug.

As an example, a player might want to invite a lowborn councilor. To overcome "no reason to move" (-20) and "base reluctance" (-10), the adjusted opinion difference must be at least 31. Specifically, the courtier's opinion of the inviter must be 31 points higher than (half negative opinion of liege, or double positive opinion of liege).

bonus for positive ai_greed, which is based on their personality traits. A charitable (-25 greed) character will respond as well as a character with no traits, but a greedy (+25 greed) character will respond far better.

Trait

Charitable

Temperate

Diligent

Slothful Cruel

Gluttonous Lustful

Greedy

ai_greed

-25

-5

-2.5

+2.5

+5

+25

The cost of the gift is 15x the monthly income of the recipient (but never less than 15 gold total).

Gifts are commonly used as a way to get reluctant people to join plots, accept alliances, or move to your court. Do note that multiple gifts do not stack, so sending more money will only help to extend the opinion bonus period.

Gifts can also be used for purposes other than the opinion boost:

Interfere in a war (especially a vassal war) by helping one side hire mercenaries

Increase the chance of arresting a courtier you intend to banish (seizing back the gift, of course)

Increase a prisoner's wealth so they can pay you ransom before they die

You can propose guardianship if either the child or the guardian is in your court. If both characters are in your court, it happens immediately as it does not require another ruler's permission.

Note that landed council members reside in the court of their liege. To have a child educated by a landed council member, you must ask their liege. To remove a child from being educated by a landed council member, you might have to first move them to be educated in your court before you can send them elsewhere.

You can buy favors from adults who are not in hiding, not imprisoned, not incapable, not holding a temporary title. Most characters will accept at +26 opinion.

You cannot buy a favor from someone who is currently "influenced by your favor". This includes the direct influence of "call in council support" and "request council support", but also some other uses of favors where you might not notice the extended duration unless they happen to be on your council.

There are three kinds of peace you may offer. Unless your warscore is 100%, your opponent can choose whether to accept or reject the offer.

Surrender: Your enemy wins the war. The AI will always accept this, except for invasion-type casus belli, where the aggressor may want to take more land before accepting your surrender.

White Peace: This usually acts as though the war had never happened, with a few penalties for the aggressor depending on the CB. The AI will usually accept this if your war-score against them is positive, but will never (?) accept this when their war-score is positive.

Enforce Demands: You win the war. AI rulers may accept slightly before 100% warscore, especially if their army has been defeated or they are busy fighting additional wars.

Unlike in most interactions, the opinion factor is shown as positive as long as opinion is above -100

<Requester> is my liege

+2

Skills of <Bride/Groom>

-2 to +2

When your courtier will join their court.

Age of <Bride>

+1 to +2

Young bride

<Bride> is past childbearing age

-5 (blocking)

Bride over 35 (or will be when the boy turns 16?). Women actually become infertile at 45.

Difference in age

-1 to -5

Older bride for young groom

<Groom> is too young

-2 to -3

Young groom for older bride (betrothals only?)

Desires a better non-aggression pact

-5 (blocking?)

Requestee is feudal or tribal

Requestee is count rank or higher

Target bride/groom is (sibling, child, or grandchild) of requestee

Your bride/groom is not your (sibling, child, or grandchild)

Has this been expanded to include other relatives, now that NAPs can form through e.g. nephews?

Political concerns

-5

AI has a CB against you, and does not want to be prevented from attacking with you

Will honor the betrothal

+5

AI rulers always honor patrilineal betrothals. For matrilineal betrothals, they consider the marriage offer just as they would if there wasn't a betrothal, and will reject e.g. a non-dynastic matrilineal betrothal with a man who is now a ruler. Even then, the AI ruler is likely to send a marriage request to you, effectively honoring the betrothal.

Marriage type does not match the betrothal

-5 (blocking)

Will never accept a matrilineal marriage if betrothal was regular, or vice versa.

Make a man a monk or a woman a nun , disqualifying them from inheritance. Women always stay in your court, but some men will join a holy order. The diplomatic action screen will tell you which order, or whether they will remain in your court.

Conditions are:

The target character must be unmarried.

The target character must either be a prisoner, or not an heir to any title.

Target is a Decadent kinsman with lower rank than you, not a prisoner, and does not have a regent

This interaction is shown in the Religion interface. It has no distance limit, but is more useful against characters in your realm, because it gives you an imprisonment reason if your kinsman refuses to straighten up.